Columbus council approves tax break for Short North project

A developer that wants to transform a Short North antique marketplace and consignment shop into a commercial office and retail property will get an assist from the city of Columbus to make it happen.

The Columbus City Council voted Monday to approve a 10-year, 75 percent property tax abatement worth $3.1 million for the Pizzuti Companies at 873 N. High Street. The council voted 6-0 in favor of the abatement. Councilwoman Elizabeth Brown abstained; her husband works for Pizzuti.

Pizzuti plans to spend about $16.6 million to redevelop the former Grandview Mercantile antique marketplace and ReVue consignment store into a four-story, 59,000-square-foot mix of ground-floor retail and office space with an underground parking structure for 34 vehicles.

A total of 25 new full-time jobs with annual payroll totaling $1.3 million would come from the new development by the end of 2022, according to the city.

Earlier this year, the city released a study that found developers do not need incentives for residential construction in developed parts of Columbus, such as the Short North. Development Director Steve Schoeny has said that the city’s incentives on commercial property, though, are less generous than its regional competitors.

Schoeny said Pizzuti originally wanted to build a taller development but downsized it after the area commission objected.

The council also approved the following legislation:

• A 10-year, 75 percent property tax abatement worth about $1.1 million for the Lykens Companies to redevelop the Budd Dairy Building, at 1086 N. 4th St., into a 40,000-square-foot mixed use development. Most of the development would be office space. The company intends to spend about $5.5 million and to expand and relocate its headquarters there from 1020 Dennison Avenue in Columbus.

• A 10-year, 75 percent property tax abatement worth about $685,000 for brothers Ken and Nick Farber to redevelop the former The Andersons General Store, 5800 Alshire Road, into a manufacturing facility for their family’s custom specialty vehicles business. Farber Specialty Vehicles Inc. would spend about $6.7 million and add another 50,000 square feet to the 137,300-square-foot store. It plans to relocate its corporate headquarters at 7052 Americana Parkway — and about 110 full-time workers — to the new site. It plans to add 20 new full-time employees with payroll totaling $796,000.

• A 5-year, 25-percent income tax incentive for Blue & Co., a public accounting firm expanding its local operation. The company would receive 25 percent of the city income taxes new employees pay, and 30 percent for new employees who also are Columbus residents. Blue intends to hire 15 new full-time workers with payroll totaling about $978,000 and retain 25 full-time jobs when it moves from 8800 Lyra Drive to a new space at 9200 Worthington Road. The incentive would be worth between $30,550 and $36,660.

• A new union contract with Communications Workers of America Local 4502 that gives those 1,500 members 3 percent wage increases in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and reduces the city’s obligation to pick up employee pension contributions from 2 percent to 1 percent and again from 1 percent to nothing on April 1, 2018. The raises are retroactive for 2017. The contract is the product of fact-finding between the city and the union. The contract stipulations will cost the city about $17.5 million.